Alex's Lemonade Stand Brought the Heat to Culver Studios

Saturday afternoon was a hot one, but that didn't stop Lena Dunham, Jimmy Kimmel, Neil Patrick Harris, and other notable personalities from hitting Alex's Lemonade Stand, the now annual benefit hosted by chef Suzanne Goin, Caroline Styne (Lucques, AOC, Tavern), and David Lentz (The Hungry Cat) to raise funds for childhood cancer research. With industry heavyweights like Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco), Jonathan Waxman (Barbuto), and Michael Tusk (Quince), Alex's Lemonade Stand just might be LA's top dining event, consistently attracting one of the best chef lineups of the year.

Despite the heat, lines snaked out from barbecue master Adam Perry Lang's sizable grill operation for beef short ribs with a side of pickles, guests lined up for seconds of Pizzeria Bianco's Pizza Rosa (onions, Parmesan, pistachios, rosemary) as proprietor Chris Bianco manned the oven all afternoon, and Providence chef Michael Cimarusti's oysters sliders proved popular enough that he ran out of buns and continued to serve the fried oysters solo. Donald Link's Louisiana crab pasta with chiles and mint and The Hungry Cat's raw bar, stocked with everything from cab to uni to oysters, were crowd favorites, as was Hedy Goldsmith's weather appropriate sour lemon ice pops. Caffe Luxxe 's cold brew cut the sweet in Zoe Nathan's (Huckleberry, Sweet Rose Creamery) cornbread strawberry shortcake and Vosges' chocolate bonbons. But, most importantly, when queried if Pizzeria Bianco would ever launch a Los Angeles operation, owner Chris Bianco answered that it's not out of the question.
·All Alex's Lemonade Stand Coverage [~ELA~]